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Artist is a big draw for pundit portraits

Oftentimes, it works. During her time at Fox Business News, Rebecca Diamond gave Wilke a shout-out on air and showed his drawing of her. Wilke says he’s gotten “Facebook or Twitter shout-outs” from Hannity, Baier, Tantaros and Eric Bolling. As part of his clever marketing strategy, shout-outs can often score you a price reduction should you ultimately purchase your own portrait from Wilke.

The Daily Caller’s Weinstein is a testament to how Wilke’s pro-active approach can pay off.

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“Scott came to my attention when he friended me on Facebook,” said Weinstein, who’s since asked Wilke to also create drawings of his father and Winston Churchill. “That’s how I discovered his work, which needless to say greatly impressed me. He’s an incredibly talented artist.”

Other times, Wilke endures some unfortunate bad timing. Wilke says Andrew Breitbart wanted to buy a picture Wilke had done of him, but passed away shortly thereafter. Breitbart’s friend, Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen Bannon, ended up taking the piece and featuring it prominently in the offices of Breitbart.com — oh, and Bannon bought a picture of himself from Wilke, as well. He thought he had a good thing going with Lyon, a contributor to CNN at the time, when he connected with her via Facebook about his portraits of her and she responded enthusiastically. The communications line stopped, however, when Lyon’s relationship with CNN began to sour.

“I was hoping she would spread the word at CNN,” Wilke said.

Anywhere but Fox, it seems.

“I want to get back into it with everybody,” Wilke said. “I don’t want to just be the Fox guy. I’ve boxed myself into a corner.”